LITERATURE
‘’Good Bones’’ by Maggie Smith (2016)
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
Background
Three days after a gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Smith’s poem, “Good
Bones,” was published in the literary journal Waxwing. A reader moved by the poem’s message
posted a screenshot on Facebook, where a Brooklyn-based musician named Shira Erlichman read it
and passed it along on Twitter. As the poem travelled across the Web, its celebrity endorsements got
bigger: Caitlin Moran, Glennon Doyle Melton, Alyssa Milano , Megan Mullally .
“Good Bones” has become something of a societal anxiety barometer. “I can tell something bad is
happening in the world when my poem is surging,” says Smith, a 39-year-old mother of two who
earned an MFA at Ohio State and lives not far from where she grew up outside Columbus.
The poem is a heartfelt work that grapples with pain and injustice, with unfairness and
disillusionment. “The world is at least/ fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative/ estimate,” it
says. “For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird./ For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,/
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world/ is at least half terrible, and for every kind/ stranger, there
is one who would break you.”
Literary devices
Repetition
She keeps repeating: ‘Though I keep this from my children.’
Imagery
‘For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.’
Metaphor
Lay-out
Sentences are the same length.
,Anaphora
First two sentences begin with ‘Life is shot’.
‘’London Breed’’ by Benjamin Zephaniah
I love dis great polluted place
Where pop stars come to live their dreams
Here ravers come for drum and bass
And politicians plan their schemes,
The music of the world is here
Dis city can play any song
They came to here from everywhere
Tis they that made dis city strong.
A world of food displayed on streets
Where all the world can come and dine
On meals that end with bitter sweets
And cultures melt and intertwine,
Two hundred languages give voice
To fifteen thousand changing years
And all religions can rejoice
With exiled souls and pioneers.
I love dis overcrowded place
Where old buildings mark men and time
And new buildings all seem to race
Up to a cloudy dank skyline,
Too many cars mean dire air
Too many guns mean danger
Too many drugs means be aware
Of strange gifts from a stranger.
It’s so cool when the heat is on
And when it’s cool it’s so wicked
We just keep melting into one
Just like the tribes before us did,
I love dis concrete jungle still
With all its sirens and its speed
The people here united will
Create a kind of London breed.
Background
‘’London is a mess. The city is a disagree to the country and you are a disgrace for allowing it to
happen.’’
He goes on to list London’s apparent downfalls:
- Racism
- Pollution
- Overcrowding
- Prices
He ends the letter with a threat of extreme violence.
, Literary devices
Alliteration
‘polluted place’
Anaphora
‘Too many,
Too many’
‘’Good Bones’’ by Maggie Smith (2016)
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
Background
Three days after a gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Smith’s poem, “Good
Bones,” was published in the literary journal Waxwing. A reader moved by the poem’s message
posted a screenshot on Facebook, where a Brooklyn-based musician named Shira Erlichman read it
and passed it along on Twitter. As the poem travelled across the Web, its celebrity endorsements got
bigger: Caitlin Moran, Glennon Doyle Melton, Alyssa Milano , Megan Mullally .
“Good Bones” has become something of a societal anxiety barometer. “I can tell something bad is
happening in the world when my poem is surging,” says Smith, a 39-year-old mother of two who
earned an MFA at Ohio State and lives not far from where she grew up outside Columbus.
The poem is a heartfelt work that grapples with pain and injustice, with unfairness and
disillusionment. “The world is at least/ fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative/ estimate,” it
says. “For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird./ For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,/
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world/ is at least half terrible, and for every kind/ stranger, there
is one who would break you.”
Literary devices
Repetition
She keeps repeating: ‘Though I keep this from my children.’
Imagery
‘For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.’
Metaphor
Lay-out
Sentences are the same length.
,Anaphora
First two sentences begin with ‘Life is shot’.
‘’London Breed’’ by Benjamin Zephaniah
I love dis great polluted place
Where pop stars come to live their dreams
Here ravers come for drum and bass
And politicians plan their schemes,
The music of the world is here
Dis city can play any song
They came to here from everywhere
Tis they that made dis city strong.
A world of food displayed on streets
Where all the world can come and dine
On meals that end with bitter sweets
And cultures melt and intertwine,
Two hundred languages give voice
To fifteen thousand changing years
And all religions can rejoice
With exiled souls and pioneers.
I love dis overcrowded place
Where old buildings mark men and time
And new buildings all seem to race
Up to a cloudy dank skyline,
Too many cars mean dire air
Too many guns mean danger
Too many drugs means be aware
Of strange gifts from a stranger.
It’s so cool when the heat is on
And when it’s cool it’s so wicked
We just keep melting into one
Just like the tribes before us did,
I love dis concrete jungle still
With all its sirens and its speed
The people here united will
Create a kind of London breed.
Background
‘’London is a mess. The city is a disagree to the country and you are a disgrace for allowing it to
happen.’’
He goes on to list London’s apparent downfalls:
- Racism
- Pollution
- Overcrowding
- Prices
He ends the letter with a threat of extreme violence.
, Literary devices
Alliteration
‘polluted place’
Anaphora
‘Too many,
Too many’
